Every X-Man Ever

Feared and hated by the world they have sworn to protect. These are the strangest heroes of all! The Uncanny X-Men!

Yes, we love the X-Men. Who doesn’t? But there are so many of them... It’s hard to keep track! And that’s one of the reasons we put together this video timeline and infographic (watch it above!) detailing the long and storied membership of Professor Xavier’s merry band of mutants. This was no easy task, as there have been so many offshoots and side teams and kinda-sorta-teams over the course of the X-Men’s 50-plus year history. But we channeled our mutant power of OCD and did our best to nail down a complete membership history of the core X-Men team (in the comics only). Oh, and we’re also including a written version of this feature below for those of you who don’t have video capabilities in your X-Mansion yet…

1963-1965

It all began in 1963 when Marvel debuted Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s The X-Men. Most of the original members of the team were all present and accounted for in that first issue. But we would eventually learn how they joined Xavier’s group in flashback stories that would come in the years to follow. Cyclops, Iceman, the Angel, and the ever-agile Beast represented those first students. This core group, along with Jean Grey -- also known as Marvel Girl -- would remain at the center of the team for the next 12 years, with only the occasional variation. Jean was actually the only member of Xavier’s first class to join in issue 1, though later continuity would tell us that she had actually known the professor and worked with him for years prior.

Professor X

Real Name: Professor Charles Xavier

Major Powers: Telepathy

First Appearance: X-Men #1 (September, 1963)

Joined: X-Men #42 (Flashback)

Cyclops

Real Name: Scott Summers

Major Powers: Optic Blasts

First Appearance: X-Men #1 (September, 1963)

Joined: X-Men #42 (Flashback)

Iceman

Real Name: Robert “Bobby” Drake

Major Powers: Ice Creation/Manipulation

First Appearance: X-Men #1 (September, 1963)

Joined: X-Men #46 (Flashback)

Angel

Real Name: Warren Worthington III

Major Powers: Flight

First Appearance: X-Men #1 (September, 1963)

Joined: X-Men #56 (Flashback)

Beast

Real Name: Doctor Henry “Hank” McCoy

Major Powers: Superhuman Strength, Speed, Agility, Endurance, Senses

First Appearance: X-Men #1 (September, 1963)

Joined: X-Men #53 (Flashback)

Marvel Girl

Real Name: Jean Grey

Major Powers: Telepathy, Telekinesis

First Appearance/Joined: X-Men #1 (September, 1963)

1966-1974

In 1966, the first new team member came -- and went -- pretty quickly. Mimic lasted all of three issues. Changeling soon followed, and he lasted only two issues. Polaris and her man Havok, the brother of Cyclops, would become on-again/off-again members. And in 1970, Marvel actually stopped printing new X-Men stories for five years. But don’t worry -- Wolverine finally showed up when the team was rebooted with almost all new members.

Mimic

Real Name: Calvin Rankin

Major Powers: Power Mimicry

Joined: X-Men #27 (December, 1966)

X-Plained: First new addition to the original team. Lasted just three issues before losing his powers. Also the first non-mutant to join.

Changeling

Real Name: Kevin Sydney

Major Powers: Shapeshifting

Joined: X-Men #40 (January, 1968)

X-Plained: Joined disguised as (and replacing) Professor X, only to die two issues later. Wouldn’t be revealed until two years later.

Polaris

Real Name: Lorna Dane

Major Powers: Magnetic Manipulation

Joined: X-Men #60 (September, 1969)

X-Plained: Magneto’s daughter.

Havok

Real Name: Alex Summers

Major Powers: Plasma Blasts

Joined: X-Men #65 (February, 1970)

X-Plained: Cyclops’ brother.

1975-1979

The all-new, all-different X-Men consisted of an international line-up -- the German Nightcrawler, the Canadian Wolverine, Banshee from Ireland, the Kenyan Storm, the Japanese Sunfire, Colossus from Russia, and the Native American Thunderbird. Their first mission was to save the original team from the living, mutated island called Krakoa. At the end of that adventure, only Cyclops stayed on from the first group. He would lead these new X-Men until Storm took over in issue 139.

Years later, yet another team was retconned into this time period by Marvel. We would learn that this group of doomed X-Men attempted to save the original team from Krakoa -- and failed. Only then was the international team that we know so well activated by Xavier.

This would soon become a Golden Age for the book, as writer Chris Claremont came onboard for his legendary 16-year run. Teaming with artist John Byrne in particular resulted in iconic storylines like the Dark Phoenix saga and Days of Future Past.

1980-1988

By the early ’80s, the roster began to become more fluid, with members coming and going a bit more often. New teammates like Kitty Pryde, the youngest X-Man at the time, Kitty’s faithful dragon Lockheed, and Rogue, a former villain, would join the group. And even the X-Men’s ultimate nemesis Magneto saw the light and became the new headmaster at his old friend Xavier’s school. For a time, anyway.

During this period, the first of what would eventually become many different X-Men spin-off teams arrived. The New Mutants were a selection of students solely meant to be trained in their powers -- and not see combat. As if that was ever going to happen. Another offshoot team came in 1986, called X-Factor. Made up of the original five X-Men, including the recently resurrected Jean Grey, this group was estranged from the current X-Men team for several years. And the X-Men line-up became even more diverse, with time-travelers, inter-dimensional beings, and even disco queens joining up.